Road worries continue for Bulls
The USF women’s basketball team couldn’t break out of its road slump this past weekend, as the Bulls dropped both games to Conference USA foes Marquette and DePaul.
USF (5-11, 0-3) fell 62-41 Friday against Marquette and lost 63-57 Sunday against No. 25 DePaul.
The Bulls have dropped nine of their last 10 games and are currently on a five-game losing streak.
The two losses kept the Bulls winless on the road this season (0-8), but even worse, the losses keep the Bulls winless in conference play.
One of the key elements to gaining a victory on the road is taking care of the basketball. USF struggled in that area, committing 56 turnovers in the two games.
On Sunday afternoon, USF jumped out to a quick seven-point lead against the Blue Demons (14-4, 3-0 in C-USA) behind a Sonia Cotton jumper with 15:28 left in the first half. The Bulls held on to the seven-point advantage until 5:28 remained in the first, but DePaul went on a 15-2 run to close out the half and led 33-27.
The Bulls fought back to take the lead 45-44 after two Jameelah Trimble free throws with 8:59 left in the game. But DePaul went on a 10-4 run over the next three minutes to take a 55-48 lead.
USF cut the lead to three, 60-57, with 1:08 remaining in the game, but Cotton missed a jumper, and DePaul’s Jamie Smith hit two free throws to put the game away.
The loss to the Blue Demons keeps the Bulls winless against top-25 programs this season.
Aiya Shepard led the Bulls with 16 points, while Cotton added 11.
Friday night’s game against Marquette started badly and just got worse.
USF fell behind nine points in the first three minutes and never recovered. The Golden Eagles (9-5, 1-1) led by as many as 16 in the first half, but USF was able to trim the lead to 11 points before halftime.
Marquette pushed its lead to 27 in the second half and held on for a 21-point victory.
USF struggled all night on the offensive end. The Bulls made just six shots in each half while committing 30 turnovers in the game.
USF shot just 29 percent from the floor against Marquette, including 4-of-18 from three-point range.
Cotton was the only Bull in double figures with 10 points.
The Bulls return home for a three-game stretch beginning Friday against conference opponent Cincinnati.
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